Necessary Justifed Crime
by AmarieN
Summary: Voldemort is in control and it seems nothing can stop him. Hermione is trying her best to survive through imprisonment, being on the run, and being alone. But what happens when someone she trusted turncoats and when someone she never trusted turns out to be the good guy? Win or lose in the end she isn't sure if she'll make it out alive. M content. Dark themes. HG/RW HG/DM HP/GW
1. A Battle to Lose

**Author's Note:** So this is a story that has been on my mind for quite some time. I think I started writing it over a year ago now. I'm done with Part One of the story which is 13 chapters. So basically everything in the books is the same until the battle begins in DH. This story will deal with some dark themes and sensitive subjects ( I'll have this warning in every chapter but just a heads up.) Also the romance side of the story is light and won't come into play until later chapter and even then it isn't the main focus of the story so you've been warned. This is an M rated story, I'm going to play it safe and say that rating applies to every chapter. The story will follow Hermione through the *spoiler* years of war post Battle of Hogwarts. Some characters may seem slightly OOC but there is a reasoning for every character change and hopefully that will come across through the writing.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter, the Harry Potter characters, or any place within the Harry Potter Universe. I am not making any money off this story and it's only meant to be fun. Nor do I own any of the quotes being used at the beginning of chapters.

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**Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime." -Ernest Hemingway.**

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**May 2nd, 1998**

**"Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die." Herbert Hoover**

Hermione leaned to her left as she tried to walk down the hallway. Her wand had snapped during her last fight and the only thing she could think of was getting out of the castle. She wondered if she could get away with hobbling through the castle without fear of a battle. She was unrecognizable after so many fights with Death Eaters. There was a chance no one would even realize she was a No. 1 Desirable.

Her hair was matted down with her own blood; the only sign of her trademark bush was around her shoulders where her hair ended. The open wound at the top of her head was still oozing blood down the right side of her face. Her left eye was swollen shut and nearly doubled in size. There were several noticeable gashes across her body. Her right ankle seemed to be twisted, or possibly broken. The only reason she could still walk had to be the sheer need to get out, there was no other explanation.

The Death Eater she had just fought lay dead on the ground behind her as she walked away from the scene. Hermione couldn't feel proud of herself for surviving and she couldn't even manage to feel disgusted to have killed a man with her bare hands. It seemed as if the moment her wand snapped all her emotions had frozen. She went through the motions of trying to get close enough to fight or far enough to run away. When she finally took a moment to look around at the situation the man she had pinned to the ground was taking his last breath, which she had rung from his body.

Her tennis shoes stuck to the ground with each step as the blood became sticky beneath her feet. Her head was pounding and her ears were ringing. She hadn't heard any noise since she went numb and panic started to set in that she might be deaf. But as she limped away her thoughts rang out loud and clear in her head.

_"Not so brave without a wand are you, mudblood?"_

_Hermione had dodged a spell, rolling over on her ankle. She gasped for air as a pain shot through her body. Her first fear was that she had been hit with a curse but as she kept rolling she realized it was her ankle screaming at her. She managed to find cover but only just before the Death Eater blew the wall to pieces. _

_"Come out and play, mudblood. We can play the dirty way, the way your savages were raised. Think you can beat me without your wand?"_

_Hermione still refused to move. She didn't want to fight him, didn't want to die. But the moment he caught up to her hiding place he turned to look at her a crazed look in his eye. She noticed his wand wasn't in his hand and thought to herself that perhaps that was what he meant by fighting the dirty way. As if it was an instinct her hand balled into a fist and swung out hitting him in the throat with all the power she could. _

Hermione couldn't be sure what had happened after that, only the fact that she had gotten banged up and a Death Eater had the life strangled out of him. Limping through the halls she prayed, willing God to send her some relief and make her come across a friend. Making her way through the castle injured would take a great deal of time she wasn't sure if she had. She could only manage to limp, her vision was impaired by her swollen eye, her right eye was a struggle to open as blood caused her eyelashes to stick together, and she had no wand. She was certain that if she met an enemy she would be doomed.

She wasn't even certain where she was within the castle. The place she had once considered a home seemed completely unfamiliar to her. It was dark and dank, blood occupied a vast majority of the floors and walls, but above all else Hogwarts had now seen real death. Hermione didn't want to discount Myrtle or Dumbledore in anyway, but the deaths that had occupied since she, Harry, and Ron stepped foot into the castle that night had been horrendous.

When she finally managed to find her way to the staircases they were frozen in place. She had read once in Hogwarts, A History that the stairs controlled themselves and picked by their own choice when to move. She couldn't help but think the stairs knew a battle was no time to play games. Hermione leaned her left arm on the rail as she tried to take a step. Each small movement down the stairs was killing her body.

She sighed thankfully when she realized she had only been on the second floor. Remembering slowly that she had been separated from Harry and Ron during their run to the common grounds Hermione made outside her destination. The Grand Entry which had once impressed her beyond all means now felt dark and cruel, she knew just outside the doors her classmates were dying.

The grounds were loud with the cries of battle. While Hermione was devastated as she assessed the fields she couldn't help but be grateful that she could hear. Everyone around her seemed to be in their own world, paired up good versus evil in fights. It was only when someone fell to the ground that the victor looked for a new opponent. Hermione did her best to avoid the fighting, knowing that in such an open area she stood no chance without her wand.

Her goal was to find Harry, to find Ron, and get the hell out of Hogwarts. After being beaten up by a Death Eater she was not afraid to admit that they were not ready. She couldn't even call running away cowardly, it was merely the smartest strategy. If the three of them could regroup they would have a fighting chance. They only needed to kill the snake and then kill Voldemort but they had thrown themselves into battle without clear heads or any preparation.

A spell just barely missed her head as she tried walking through the crowd. Part of her wanted to stand tall and attempt fighting but her rational side made her keep moving. She dodged her way through groups trying to hide herself from whoever had attempted attacking her.

A flash of red passed her and her eye lit up, assuming it was Ronald running by. She couldn't help but feel disappointed when she saw it was Ginny. Young innocent Ginny, fighting a battle that was far too difficult for her to deal with, it was far too hard for Hermione to deal with. They were only children, young kids pretending to be grown ups in order to stop the bad guys.

"Expelliarmus!" she heard the cry of her best friend.

She turned her head as quickly as she could manage to find the source of the yell. She knew in her heart it had to be Harry. He was the only person who would be using a disarming spell in the middle of war. Though it was better than dodging and running, she thought to herself with a small pang in her heart. When she turned to her right she saw him, back to back with Ron fighting off Death Eaters left and right. They looked like they were in their element; the former misfits had found their place on the battlefield.

Harry stunned his opponent and Hermione used the opportunity to approach. Maneuvering through the crowds of fighters she managed to catch his attention. His wand went up to meet her; Hermione raised her arms weakly trying not to pass out from the pain and wooziness. Harry seemed to realize his mistake quickly and lowered his wand as he ran towards her not bothering to look around him.

"Hermione, what happened to you?" he asked worrying laced in every word.

"'ost my 'and" Hermione tried to speak but found forming the words to be difficult.

Harry's eyes widened in fear as he realized his best friend was in the middle of a battlefield completely defenseless. Each second another Death Eater was winning a fight, or a stunned Death Eater was overpowering the stun, every moment they became less safe. Her wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist and tried to steady her as she leaned against him.

Hermione wanted to chastise him about focusing on his own safety but didn't want to waste the energy. Every moment that passed by she felt woozier and found it harder to keep her eyes open. Harry seemed to realize how much she was struggling as he made his way back to Ron, who had just barely won his fight as he stunned the Death Eater in front of him.

Hermione reached out for Ron, letting go of Harry's embrace. Both of her hands clutched onto his shirt, which was dirtied and ripped. She knew if she could she would cry, but tears were physically impossible. Instead she moaned a heartbreaking sound as she pulled at his shirt.

"Go, we gotta go." She wished she could form real sentences, wished she could make her argument but speaking was hard enough.

"Mione, are you nuts we can't leave everyone here. My family is here fighting, I can't just run away. You can do it Hermione, just be strong and fight."

"Ron, look at her she can hardly stand!" Harry bellowed over the noise around them. "Do what she says, we need to get her to safety."

"Lose, gotta win." Hermione tried to get her point across.

She knew that if they stayed much longer everyone would be killed. They needed to stay alive to have even a shred of hope for winning the war in the long run. The three of them were the figureheads for the good side, if they were killed in this battle because they weren't prepared there would be no one.

Hermione was trying to open her eye as much as possible but as she spoke the world around her seemed to be growing darker. Her eye slid closed, as if to match her swollen one. She could feel her weight dropping. It was as if she no longer had control.

"I've got you." She heard Harry say as she slipped into unconsciousness.

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Hermione could barely move as she started to wake up. It was less of a physical impairment and more the overwhelming dread of where she might be. When she had last been aware her comrades were falling all around her, she had seen little hope for them to win the battle. Passing out in the middle of losing a war could never end well.

She tried not to groan as she shifted slightly on the hard ground but the sound won. She felt a hand take hers squeezing it as if life depending on holding her hand.

"Hermione, are you awake?" it was Harry's voice.

She groaned in response, not sure if she could open her mouth to respond. He squeezed her hand tighter at her response. Hermione could hear him choking back tears. Though his attempts to hold back his emotions cleared failed when she felt a small drop of water hit her arm.

"Ron, she's waking up!" Hermione could hear something in the background, a movement or a grumble, "Ron, I'm serious move your ass."

There was more silence as Hermione carefully listened to the movement that seemed far away. She assumed she was listening to Ron walk over to where Harry was sitting over her body. She could hear the snap of twigs and the rustle of leaves as he moved closer to them.

Hermione did her best to open her eyes and was surprised when very little effort was needed. Her first assumption was that Harry must have healed her wounds but when she went to move her body and felt pain overtake her she knew that assumption was wrong.

"Careful, you're pretty banged up. Your face is looking better though, besides the gash." Harry smiled half heartedly.

Hermione wasn't sure if she was supposed to be grateful for not being as bad as she had been while fighting. She couldn't understand why Harry hadn't restored her. Ron wasn't handy enough with a wand to do healing spells, and she was grateful he didn't use her as a test dummy but she knew Harry had the skill.

"Why?" she gasped. Her voice was hoarse but it was easier to talk than before.

"Hermione, take it slow." Harry said helping her ease back into a lying position.

Hermione could still see him and Ron as she tried to avoid staring up at the sky. Ignoring the fact that they were outside made it easier to imagine that she was still some normal kid who wasn't hiding away in woods.

"How long?"

It was the first time she realized she had no clue how long it had been since she passed out. The night sky was dark, but she couldn't remember how light it had been before she slipped into sleep.

"It's been nearly a week, Hermione."

"We've been hiding out since you pulled us away from the battle."

"Ron!" Harry chastised.

Hermione looked at Ron cautiously. He was clearly annoyed with the idea of being on the run again. Hermione couldn't help but feel guilty, there could have been a chance that they would have won if they had just stuck it out. But she felt certain that they were far too gone to have pulled a win out of their back pocket. Ron seemed to think differently, he was clearly holding resentment to being pulled away from the field.

"It's okay Hermione, when you passed out my arm was too injured to help you. Ron carried you and I led us away. We were nearly caught I barely managed to disarm the Death Eaters that were after us before we made it off the grounds. Ron and I, we just kept moving until we found a little muggle town."

"It was in pretty bad shape.' Ron interrupted.

Harry glared at him, as if Ron had said something inappropriate.

"Don't say it like that! The town, the town had been raided. It was all blood and shambles, there wasn't a person alive, Hermione. It was a small town but still, every single person. We hid out there for a day or two before we moved on. I don't know what this woods is but it's small, I just wanted somewhere to rest till you had a chance to really heal up."

Hermione didn't know what to say. She couldn't help but feel grateful that she hadn't been aware of the dead town they had occupied. She knew the Death Eaters did raids but she didn't know they had grown to the extent of killing entire villages. Her heart cried for all the poor people who had died, they died because Voldemort was still alive, because the Golden Trio hadn't managed to off the mass murderer in time. Guilt poured through her body just thinking about it.

"Why didn't you heal me?" she asked, feeling slightly selfish.

"Really Mione, that's what you care about right now?" Ron laughed out his voice dripping with bitterness.

"Ron, shut up. We couldn't heal you, Hermione. We both snapped our wands back in the town, left the pieces there just to be safe."

Hermione wanted to scream but she didn't think she had the energy. She had never known them to do something so stupid before, and she had witnessed a lot of stupidity on their parts.

"Why?"

Harry and Ron took a moment. Harry seemed to be silently asking Ron for guidance on what to do but the red head seemed uninterested. Harry opened his mouth and shut it again without a word, he repeated the process multiple times. Hermione was almost becoming annoyed when he uttered words that made her blood run cold.

"Hermione the Order fell. You-Know-Who is in control."

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**Author's Note:** So there is the first chapter. Please review, I live off of reviews and I welcome _constructive_ criticisms :)


	2. Times Are Changing

**Author's Note: **Oh my goodness, I am so sorry for the ridiculously long wait! I am not even going to lie right now it completely slipped my mind that I had already started posting this story. I thought I had only edited the first chapter but when I realized I posted it as well I felt terrible. So here is the next part!

**THANK YOU:** A big thank you to juls and frasiersmom for their reviews of the last chapter and I'm sorry to have kept you waiting!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter or it's characters. I only own my ideas and plot lines. I am making no money off of this story so please don't sue me I honestly have nothing to give you except the dinner I am currently eating.

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**June 13th, 1998**

"The day of individual happiness has passed." Adolf Hitler

It had taken Hermione's body over a month to be strong enough to move on her own. Harry and Ron had taken care of her, though Ron seemed reluctant to do anything. The red head had spent the majority of the month leaving the woods in search of magical towns where he could acquire a paper. Harry and Hermione had begged him not to go, but once a week he would disappear for three days and show back up with the Daily Prophet.

For a month Hermione spent her time doing nothing but reading the monstrosity that the Prophet had become. She had always hated the paper because of their lies but it seemed that under Voldemort's control the paper was much more factual. And those facts scared her more than anything.

On this particular day Hermione and Harry were huddled close together using a tree as support. She had long ago gotten used to being in close proximity to Harry. He was her best friend, when Ron had left them in the woods Harry had been her only source of comfort. She had never been so grateful for having such a good friend as the moments when she felt alone.

Hermione kept looking through the trees waiting to see a flash of Ron's red hair. He had been gone longer than normal and she was beginning to worry. Harry could only do so much to reassure her that everything was fine. Even as he rested his dirty head on her shoulder she couldn't keep still. Fear was making her antsy and her body was finally healed enough to respond.

Not only was Ron taking longer than normal but they had stayed in the same place the whole month she had been healing. It would soon officially be a month and two weeks since the Battle of Hogwarts and Hermione felt unsafe remaining in the same place for long. When they had been on the run they were constantly changing location, but Harry had refused to move again until Hermione could walk on her own for a length of time.

Hermione didn't think she would ever be able to express the relief she felt when she saw red hair bobbing through the trees. Ron was walking slowly towards them and Hermione couldn't help but jump to her feet. Harry jerked as she pulled her shoulder out from under his head. Hermione winced as she jumped up as her ankle was just barely healed and not feeling one hundred percent better.

In Ron's hand was the paper, the bloody paper he risked his life for every week. But Hermione's eyes weren't on the paper. Instead she was looking at his left arm, just under the crook of his elbow. Hermione could see a small cut. It had obviously bled but even from a distance Hermione could tell the bleeding had stopped. What worried her was how clean the cut appeared to be, she couldn't think of any way such an injury would have occurred while he was walking through the woods.

"Ron!" she called out, waving him over as he walked closer towards her.

"Hermione, be quiet." Harry reminded her.

Hermione looked back at Harry flashing him a small smile of apology. She herself didn't feel comfortable in the small woods and couldn't believe she had spoken so loudly. They were completely defenseless in a world with Voldemort in control. Hermione was sure that none of them would survive being captured.

Ron didn't say anything as he approached them, he didn't even utter a word as he passed Hermione and sat down by Harry. But she wouldn't take his cold shoulder as any type of sign. Hermione rushed to his side, ignoring the small pains from her bad ankle. She sat down beside him and grabbed his left arm with a force that he couldn't fight.

Hermione worked, scrubbing her thumb at the excess blood that had dried on Ron's skin. He didn't even flinch as she pushed near his wound. She looked up at him with worried eyes but he did his best to avoid her glance.

"Ronald, what happened?"

"I fell." He said snatching his arm away from her when he sensed the opportunity.

"Come on mate, that's not even fooling me. What happened?" Harry asked.

Ron still didn't speak. Harry nearly jumped when the red head pushed the paper into his lap. Harry grabbed it and slowly read the first page. Hermione watched as he flipped through the pages taking in everything the paper was saying. She had never seen him read anything with such intensity.

"Ron, this isn't true is it?" he uttered in a horrified tone.

"As far as I can tell it is, but it's not like we get much news out here." Ron snapped.

"Ron, tell me what happened!" Hermione demanded her voice raising just loud enough to not attract any attention.

"I was caught in town." He said simply.

"Oh my god, by the Death Eaters?" she couldn't believe it.

"Think Hermione, would I be alive if I was caught by Death Eaters? No the damn P.S. stopped me as I was trying to leave town."

Hermione gave a confused look to her two friends. Harry seemed to understand what Ron was saying but Hermione was in the dark. She didn't know what the P.S. was, and she was hardly grateful for Ron's useless explanation. She could only huff as Harry passed her the paper.

_June 15__th__ 1998_

_Another large bound has been made in the effort of preserving our magical lines. The 'New Towns' were set up to look like a promising part of the future and you've heard it here first that they are up and running. The Purebloods here at the Daily Prophet couldn't be happier. After taking a trip to visit what was looking to be like a great solution to the overpopulation of unpure witches and wizards the reporters here were pleased by the accommodations. Not only are these towns going to be kept under surveillance to give us protection from the unpure who cannot control themselves but they also have multiple divisions. As reported by Pureblood Press there will be multiple towns set up across England and each town eventually will hold a specific group of the unpure. There is no longer any reason to fear!_

_Under the leadership of the new Ministry officials we are pleased that Magical London is finally taking matters into their own hands. Many changes have been made to help with the transition into this new world we are all so excited to be a part of. To help with the organization of the towns and to prevent any pure person from being relocated by mistake there are a few new guidelines set up by the Minister himself._

_1.__All persons (mudblood, halfblood, and pureblood) will have a branding identification._

_2.__All persons not supporting the Pure Regime have been asked to turn themselves in or face a harsher punishment when found._

_3.__All pure persons are being asked to turn in any who are unfit to be in our new world._

_4.__All persons are being asked to read and research our new government levels (which can be found summarized below.)_

_5.__Only the pure can survive in order for the pure to remain, help your government help you._

_We at the Prophet hope all are aware of our new government officials. For any who have yet to subscribe to Pureblood Press we insist you research in further detail the following: Death Eaters, those who work behind the scenes within New Towns to keep us all protected. Snatchers, those who are searching England for runaways who pose any threat to our new world. Pureblood Searchers, stationed in every town to check the blood of anyone a town member claims is suspicious. Also additional knowledge of the Gatherers, Hunters, and Guardsmen would be useful for any pureblood. Don't fall into the patterns of the past, support the cause. Here at the Prophet we are Brothers of Blood._

Hermione stared at the paper, she couldn't even bring herself to drop it. The words kept hitting around the insides of her skull as if something would become clearer if she thought about it again. She understood, finally, who must have stopped Ron. The Pureblood Searchers seemed the most likely fit if he truly believed she would find the answer from the paper.

It seemed insane that the Prophet was supporting such a horrendous cause, that anyone was. It was as if the war had never happened, that evil had always been in control. She wanted to cry as she thought about all the people they had lost for nothing. She had seen far too many of her friends fall to their deaths during the Battle of Hogwarts. It wasn't fair that good wasn't able to stop evil that was how the world was supposed to work.

"Why didn't they just kill you?" she couldn't help but question.

"I reckon the Death Eaters are the only ones who care about killing. The P.S. just want to keep their towns filled with purebloods. I bet they would have roughed me up pretty bad if I hadn't been."

Hermione felt the need to cry overtake her again. She didn't know how to process all of the news that Ron had thrown at her. The Prophet had never mentioned branding or New Towns before. The most information she had been given was just about a new world order coming about, that the purebloods didn't need to worry because their government had everything under control.

Suddenly everything seemed much graver. Hermione couldn't help but feel a sense of responsibility for being the reason Harry ran away from battle. Whether or not they were going to lose anyway it couldn't have been good for anyone's morale to see their savior running from the battlefield.

As if he could read her mind Harry closed in on her and wrapped his arms around her body in a comforting hug. Hermione couldn't do anything but sink further into the ground and his hug. The world had turned topsy-turvy and she didn't know how to go on.

"So we need to go." Ron said breaking Hermione's moment with Harry.

"Where?" Harry asked, assuming Ron had thought of a safer place for their camp.

"Didn't you read the paper? We have to turn ourselves in." Harry and Hermione only managed to look at Ron as if he had something growing out of his head, "They aren't killing anyone they're just rounding everyone up. We can go find my family."

"They're rounding everyone up for the slaughter, Ron!" Hermione yelled not caring about keeping quiet.

"I need to see my family! You're the one who dragged me away and left them to die. They are my family!"

"You don't think they're like my family too? I love your family Ron, but we have to be smart here! We can't go. Tell him, Harry, tell him we can't walk into the slaughter house like that! It's like they're fattening pigs before killing them. We can't walk into such a blatant trap! Besides Ron, who said that your family would even surrender like that!"

Ron advanced on Hermione quickly. She didn't feel threatened but Ron was significantly bigger than her and his fury was enough to startle her. He had her back up to a tree as Harry was pulling at his arms to try and push him back.

"Hermione, they are my family."

His voice was low as if the statement was somehow a threat. Hermione didn't want to argue with him, she didn't want to be the bad guy. But she refused to give herself up just to be stabbed in the back. She knew Ron was just trying to see his family again and she couldn't blame him for that but it was preventing him from thinking rationally about the situation.

If Ron had been thinking she knew he would realize that giving themselves up for these towns would mean the three of them separating. It would mean that whenever the Death Eaters were ready to kill them they would be right there. Surely the moment Voldemort heard Harry had been captured he would kill him on sight. Hermione knew her own life wouldn't be spared and Ron would be lucky to be spared on the technicality of being a pureblood.

"Ron, we just can't. Think it through." Hermione begged hoping he would step away and allow her a moment to breathe.

It was Harry who finally made Ron step back and think. Harry dragged Ron away from Hermione by his arm, pulling him out of earshot. She wished she was better at reading lips or that her hearing had adjusted but she couldn't tell what Harry was saying. Whatever it was seemed to put Ron at ease. The two boys walked calmly back to Hermione and just stood before her as if nothing had ever happened.

"Do you think you're good enough to travel, Hermione?" Harry asked.

"As good as I'm going to get without a proper Healer. We should head out that way," Hermione said pointing in the opposite direction Ron had come from, "so we know we're safe from one village."

Harry nodded in agreement taking Hermione's hand as he walked off. Ron dropped the Prophet in the pile with all the others. He knew the likelihood of them stumbling upon another paper was unlikely. They would be traveling blind from the moment they left their campsite. There was an eerie sense of doom hanging over their heads as they walked away from what had been a safe home for the last month.

It seemed clear to all of them that if the Prophet was any indication the world had certainly turned itself over to Voldemort. With the Order gone and most of the next generation dead on the floors of Hogwarts no one was left to fight but those too weak to attempt so in the first place. The world was finally one, but it was hardly the world of peace that they had been hoping for. Hermione didn't want to think negatively, she wished that she could find some silver lining within everything that happened but she couldn't. The only thought that soothed her mind was the saying her mother had taught her growing up. _Everyone has a happy ending, if it's not happy then it's not the end._ Hermione could only pray that saying was true.

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**A.N.: **So there is chapter two, and again sorry for the stupidly long wait. I can't believe myself! Let me know what you think, or just yell at me for taking so long to update! Any reviews are welcomed reviews


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